Dealing with Heavy Garage Doors

Now it goes without saying that your Garage Door is by far the heaviest machine or moving part in your home. Your typical garage door weighs several hundred pounds, so you must be very careful to ensure it continues to work flawlessly.

Material is irrelevant

Your average garage door weighs around 130 pounds (a single door garage), that’s regardless of the material, thickness, etc. Ones on the heavier side can easily top at around 350 pounds if not more. Most contemporary garage doors mostly all-glass doors weigh an average of 400 pounds. So, raising the garage door requires a slightly heavier counterweight system generally employing extension or torsion springs. If these springs fail for some reason, the garage door will either be stuck or stop working.

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The Average Life Expectancy

The heavier your garage door is, the more pressure it puts on the springs; over time, they lose strength. The average garage door has a spring life of up to 10,000 cycles. Each cycle includes opening and closing. So, the more a garage door is opened and closed, the less time the springs will last. Though on average, you’re looking at around 5 years of life for the average family home. However, there are instances where a spring will break because it wasn’t manufactured properly or was defective.

A good and proven way of extending the life expectancy of your garage door spring is with lubrication. Lubricating it each year with something like 10W30 (motor oil) should work perfectly. You can then use a cloth to clean away excess oil. Lubrication also helps to reduce if not eliminate noise.

It is important to note that if your garage door is comprised of extension springs, there should be a safety cable. If that spring breaks, the cable prevents the door from hitting someone on the way down.

Get an Electric Door Opener

If your regular counterweight system isn’t doing the trick and the Balance seems to be off, then an electric garage door opener should help make the right compensation. It is important to note that if you don’t use a counterweight, the electronic opener can still lift up to 200 pounds, but it will do so by making a lot of noise.

You will always want to avoid this noisy situation by inspecting the spring system 2x times a year. Make sure to pull the emergency cord on the door opener to lift it. A well-balanced garage door weights just 15 pounds when you pull it and so it is easy to lift with one hand. But if it can’t be lifted, it is time to get it inspected by a garage door repair company.

Get Annual Maintenance

The best way to keep your heavy garage door humming happily for the next few years is with yearly maintenance. It should be done by a team of professionals who know exactly what they are doing.